The Akron Garden Club’s Art Blooms! Kaleidoscope 2011, a Garden Club of America (GCA) flower show held at Akron Art Museum September 22-25, attracted more than 100 entries in floral design, horticulture, photography, botanical arts and conservation. Twenty artistic floral designs inspired by works at the museum were arrayed throughout the galleries.

Photo credit: Joe Levack

There were 45 classes of horticultural specimens from local gardens, plus houseplants, topiaries, edibles, container gardens and miniature landscapes, displayed in the Beatrice Knapp McDowell Grand Lobby. Entrants in the show came from GCA members in Akron, Cleveland, throughout Ohio and as far away as Massachusetts, Oregon and Texas. The show was judged by 25 GCA-accredited judges from seven states, and the four-day event drew nearly 1,600 visitors. In conjunction with Art Blooms! Kaleidoscope 2011, the museum featured special flower-inspired exhibitions of art, including Kaleidoscope Quilts: The Art of Paula Nadelstern, and Flora, images from the museum’s collection in a survey of different approaches photographers use to depict plants.